Report: FTX Close To Acquiring BlockFi At Steep Discount

Crypto exchange is close to acquiring crypto lender ,

One source told that FTX was expected to pay $25 million for BlockFi, while another said the deal would be closer to $50 million. Either way, it鈥檚 a massive drop from BlockFi鈥檚 last private valuation, which was $4.5 billion after its Series E in August, according to SA国际传媒.

BlockFi CEO tweeted Thursday that 鈥淚 can 100% confirm that we aren鈥檛 being sold for $25M.鈥�

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BlockFi, which is based in Jersey City, New Jersey, raised around $1.3 billion in funding from investors including and, according to SA国际传媒. So the current reports make it seem like the pending deal to FTX is more or less a fire sale.

This wouldn鈥檛 be FTX鈥檚 first time doing business with BlockFi. Around a week ago, FTX put up a $250 million emergency line of credit to BlockFi. BlockFi also recently laid off 20% of its 850-person workforce to try to control costs amid a market downturn.

Layoffs and plummeting valuations have rocked the tech industry in recent months, and crypto is no exception. , for example, initiated layoffs, slowed hiring, and even rescinded accepted job offers because of the current market and a looming recession.

and also put a pause on customer withdrawals because of 鈥渆xtreme market conditions,鈥� CNBC reported.

Private company valuations are also starting to catch up with public tech company ones. Instacart, for example, lowered its own valuation from around $39 billion to $24 billion to keep in line with the public markets.